- Anatomy of Online Dating Scams - How Not to Become a Victim of Cyber-romance
- How to Avoid Russian Dating Scams
- Dating & romance statistics
- Dating & romance
There are many variations of online dating scams originating in Russia and Eastern Europe but they have in common a high emotional and financial cost to unsuspecting scam victims. Typically, a man comes into contact with a scammer through an online dating agency. In the first few letters the scammer will say what a good woman she is and how hard life is in Russia. Her monthly salary is only a few hundred dollars, all Russian men are drunks and maybe her family died in a tragic accident or they are ill and in need of surgery.
Heart strings are pulled and victims are sucked in. At this point she will set the victim up as her knight in shining armor, the only one who can help her. She might just need money to pay her bills but will probably want desperately to come and visit him in his Western nation.
Anatomy of Online Dating Scams - How Not to Become a Victim of Cyber-romance
She professes her love and gives instructions to send money through Western Union or MoneyGram. This is a broad example of Russian online dating scams. The period from first contact to first cash request could be a few days or a few months but regardless how long you've "known" the person, a request for money is a scam. Scammers operate from countries with low per capita income and even if a scam takes months to pay out it is worthwhile for them, even for just a few hundred dollars.
Scammers use services like Western Union because it is all but impossible to track the recipient of the money which can be picked up anywhere in the world. A scammer could be a man or woman operating solo, posing as an attractive young lady, or part of an organized scamming operation. Such operations have been known to hire young Russian women to act as the voice on the other end of that romantic phone call.
After taking the time to get to know you, she says she's coming to visit you or wants to move to your country. This ploy also relies on the stereotypical assumption that all Russian and Eastern European women want to move to or visit America, Canada, the UK or Australia which simply isn't the case.
This is likely to be a scan of a fake or fabricated visa. Just when you think everything is going smoothly, there is a last minute problem and they will request you to urgently send them some money, without which it will be impossible for them to make their trip. Sometimes, they will even cite certain immigration requirements to sound more convincing. But rest assured, once you send that money that is the last you will hear from her. If you are seeing a Russian woman and are keen on meeting her, it is always wiser for you to go visit them instead of inviting them to visit you.
This way you can avoid losing money through a scam and a traditional Russian woman would probably prefer it if the man made the effort to come visit her. Dating and romance scams often take place through online dating websites, but scammers may also use social media or email to make contact. They have even been known to telephone their victims as a first introduction. Clues for spotting fake profiles. Example to chat privately.
How to Avoid Russian Dating Scams
They may use a fictional name, or falsely take on the identities of real, trusted people such as military personnel, aid workers or professionals working abroad. Dating and romance scammers will express strong emotions for you in a relatively short period of time, and will suggest you move the relationship away from the website to a more private channel, such as phone, email or instant messaging. They often claim to be from Australia or another western country, but travelling or working overseas.
They may take months to build what may feel like the romance of a lifetime and may even pretend to book flights to visit you, but never actually come. They may also ask you to send pictures or videos of yourself, possibly of an intimate nature.
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Often the scammer will pretend to need the money for some sort of personal emergency. For example, they may claim to have a severely ill family member who requires immediate medical attention such as an expensive operation, or they may claim financial hardship due to an unfortunate run of bad luck such as a failed business or mugging in the street. The scammer may also claim they want to travel to visit you, but cannot afford it unless you are able to lend them money to cover flights or other travel expenses.
Sometimes the scammer will send you valuable items such as laptop computers and mobile phones, and ask you to resend them somewhere. They will invent some reason why they need you to send the goods but this is just a way for them to cover up their criminal activity.
Dating & romance statistics
Alternatively they may ask you to buy the goods yourself and send them somewhere. You might even be asked to accept money into your bank account and then transfer it to someone else.
Warning - the above scenarios are very likely to be forms of money laundering which is a criminal offence. Never agree to transfer money for someone else.
Dating & romance
They will tell you they need your money to cover administrative fees or taxes. Scammers may attempt to lure their victims overseas, putting you in dangerous situations that can have tragic consequences. Regardless of how you are scammed, you could end up losing a lot of money. Online dating and romance scams cheat Australians out of millions every year. The money you send to scammers is almost always impossible to recover and, in addition, you may feel long-lasting emotional betrayal at the hands of someone you thought loved you.
If you think you have been scammed, report it to the website, app, or social media site where the scammer first approached you. If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately. We encourage you to report scams to the ACCC via the report a scam page.